COSMETIC DENTAL WORK—WHO GETS IT AND WHAT DO THEY EXPECT

Cosmetic dental work on you the patient embraces many different procedures: Bleaching/Whitening, Crowns & Bridges, Veneers, Direct Bonding Posterior, Direct Bonding Anterior, Orthodontics, Inlays/Outlays, Implants, Other. Many dentists are engaged in this field including the young/new dentist as well as the older long-time practitioners. In a recent survey of the majority of these dentists, they related much information connected with their practice. For instance, what were the main concerns of a  potential customer/patient? They had three main concerns: Cost, Pain, Appearance. Other concerns included, Time to Complete Treatment, Longevity of Treatment Results, Amount of Original Tooth Removed, and  Other.  Cost was the top concern, and the others followed in their order. 

In the survey they also investigated the potential patient’s perception of cosmetic dentistry today. Patients were overwhelmingly perceived to have a very positive understanding of cosmetic dentistry according to 85.7% of dentists surveyed. By contrast, only 8.9% of the respondents felt that patients considered cosmetic dentistry to be a low priority service.  Generally speaking, cosmetic dentistry was described by participants in a number of different ways, with the overall view that cosmetic dentistry is intended to improve a patient’s smile and/or self image. Further opinions included  restoration of the dentitition to a natural (pleasing) color and/or more desirable alignment, improvement in appearance by reshaping and redefining tooth shape, size
and position, enhancement of a patient’s smile with proper shape, color and harmony of all teeth together.

To add to the patient’s perception of competency for the individual cosmetic dentist, many attend annual continuing education programs. About a third of them attended between 11 and 20 hours. The balance of respondents also attended a significant number of training hours as well. There is a wide numbers disparity between females and males that will seek cosmetic dental work. However continuing educational work is expected in the long run to bring female and male numbers closer together. Ego and personal public perception is the driving element behind the growth of Cosmetic Dentistry.